A group, Niger Delta Ijaw Development and Response Assembly (NDIDRA) has restated it’s earlier commitment to purshew the course of ridding the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) of corruption and corrupt officials. The group, in a statement, said massive corruption has been taking place in the commission and perpetrated by top governmental officials whom it said must be investigated and sacked, while as well making them pay for their crimes.

The NDIDRA expressed dissatisfaction with the minister of Niger Delta, chief Godswill Akpabio whom it said has failed to bring about a corrupt-free NDDC. The group called on President Muhammadu Buhari to replace the minister for not ridding the commission of corruption.

According to the group, “Members of the Niger Delta Ijaw Development and Response Assembly (NDIDRA), read with dismay, the scanty rebuttal of corruption allegations levelled against the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs and the supervising Minister of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) by the spokesperson of the Commission, acting on the prompting of the Interim Management Committee (IMC). It was a failed attempt to distract the public from the untold hardship on the Niger Delta people.

We urge the general public to avail itself of these facts because both oral and documentary evidences are readily available in the public domain about the corruption in the ministry.

While we sympathize with members of the current IMC in their attempts to exonerate themselves from the ongoing rot in the NDDC, suffice it to say that they cannot defend the corrupt practices of top leaders of the commission.

We also want to remind them that they are also complicit and their attempt to cover-up the rots in the commission only has them dipping their hands in it deeper.

For the avoidance of doubt, we have stated here again some of the specific corruption allegations we made in our previous publications for the Federal Government, its anti- corruption agencies and the general public to take note of.

1. The establishment of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) is itself a corrupt effort. It is an aberration and must be scrapped.
Mr. President must reconstitute the NDDC Board without further delay.

2. Mr. President ordered the forensic audit to take place in the Commission on the 17th of October 2019. It is 6 months now and still counting. What has taken place since then? Who are the auditors appointed to carry out the forensic audit? Why are they afraid to carry out the forensic audit? The Niger Delta people will like to know.

READ ALSO: Niger Delta & NDDC: Our stand on Akpabio – Group

3. The amount to complete the permanent Headquarters of the NDDC located along Eastern By-pass, Port Harcourt, was pegged at N6b by the NDDC Engineers empanelled to cost the project but the contract was awarded to Rodnab Construction Ltd. Does this not amount to contract inflation?

4. In the middle of this Coronavirus lockdown, the ministry and some members of the IMC are operating from Golden Tulip Hotel, Port Harcourt, which, payments must be involved. This may amount to desperate attempt to empty the treasury.

The complete contract sum of N16b, we believe, has now been paid to the later contractor while the project is less than 70% complete. Does government in Nigeria now make full payment and issue certificate of completion of a contract that is yet to be completed?

5. Since 2016 under the leadership of the Managing Director, the Commission has been awash with contracts for clearing Water Hyacinths, Emergency Projects and River De-silting. These corrupt politicians are, undeniably, the major beneficiaries of these contracts. Can they deny it?

6. The sum of N65b has been paid for clearing of Water Hyacinths. N1.9b and N700m was received by the arrow-head corrupt politician within two weeks interval on assumption of office and is processing additional N30b payment for the same non-existent jobs.

7. N4b was also released for supply of Lassa fever equipment that were never supplied.

8. Militants were sponsored to attack oil installations in Bayelsa State and they were allegedly paid N100m.

9. The NDDC spokesperson was silent on Emergency contracts in his response to our publication. 80% of recent payments were for Emergency Jobs, one of the three ways the Commission is defrauded. The other two are Water Hyacinth and River De-silting.

10. In the matter of staff redeployment, the Commission re-deployed, in some cases, four Directors from the Headquarters to one State office where only one Director is needed. Junior personnel, with little or no experiences, have taken the positions of these Directors, a development we say will aid the corrupt politicians to continue looting.

Finally, it is worthy to state that the members of the NDIDRA are not contractors to NDDC and have not benefitted either directly or indirectly from the NDDC.

We, therefore, do not have pecuniary interest or seeking attention as alleged by the spokesperson of the Commission. We, however, wish to state that we have a stake in this legacy and will defend it at all cost.

A majority of those who fought for the creation of the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) and the present NDDC are angered by what is going on and have vowed to resist a further degeneration of the situation.

The NDIDRA will continue to release the FACTS to destroy all attempts to mislead our people with their lies.

This should, therefore, serve as a call on President Buhari to investigate the ministry and its leadership and sack those found guilty. This is also for the forensic auditors to commence work immediately but must not be under the supervision of any official of the ministry or else we will use other means available to us to stop our common patrimony from being squandered in this manner.”

VANGUARD